Manchester City chairman Thaksin Shinawatra has offered mega bucks to Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari to lure him to Eastlands.

The Daily Mail says Thaksin has offered Scolari £3.2million a year to be manager of Manchester City. The offer is conditional on Scolari giving his answer before he leads Portugal in the European Championship next month.

The terms are an increase of £700,000 a year on the £2.5m Sven Goran Eriksson has been paid for his one season at the club - another slap in the face for the current City manager.

The offer was made to Scolari's representatives by go-betweens acting for City's owner at the weekend. Currently in his native Thailand, Thaksin has left the early stages of the negotiations to his aide Tawesuk Jack Srisumrid and the high-profile football agents Kia Joorabchian and Pini Zihavi.

Last night, sources in Portugal suggested that Scolari, 59, was mulling over the offer but is said to have doubts about uprooting his family.